My 1990 toyota camry is overheating and goes thru a lot of coolant although I can't see a leak, also the heat

Question

doesn't work, any suggestions?

Answer 1

first get it pressure tested it works evey time for finding leaks

note most of he time you have a bad cap you should replace it every 2 years anny way replace it see if it helps

Answer 2

Check the water pump. A leak there can be a devil to find. As well as a leak in one of the hoses. Check them all and the connections. Also check the radiator for leaks too. The heat won't work properly when there's low coolant as it must run through the heating core. Which, BTW, is another thing you can check for leaks. There are additives that you can put into the radiator to stop/plug the leaks in the system too. But first, do your investigation and be sure. Good luck.

Answer 3

Sounds like a cracked head or bad gasket.
Your heat will not work if the coolant becomes to low
Pull your dipstick and check for a light brown nasty looking oil.
If you coolant is constantly getting low it is either leaking externally or being blown out the exhaust. You can actually smell the antifreeze coming from the exhaust if you get close also you will most likely have some steam coming from the exhaust along with the nasty looking oil.
Thanks Bill B

Answer 4

I suspect a blown head gasket! It does not nescessarily have to put oil in the water or water in the oil! This all depends on just where the "leak" is,-(compression leak due to bad headgasket).

Fill radiator with water, - leave cap off, and start engine (water level will lilely drop), - fill till no more watre will go in, and watch filler neck to see if a continueous flow of bubbles comes up! It will bubble till all the "residual air" trapped in block gets out, but then remain fairly constant! If it continues to flow bubbles steadily, - it is leaking compression into "water jacket" of engine, and this is where the bubbles come from. If you increase the engine rpms (from idle), the flow of bubbles will increase. If leakage is bad enough, - it will push water out filler neck when you hold engne speed up a little while, - may even do it at idle,- if leak is bad enough. This is how your water is "disappearing",-- the water chamber of engine is filling up with compressed air , and pushing the water out overboard through the over flow bottle,-and out on the ground!

Now about the heat, -- heater doesn't work without water flowing through it! Which obviously it won't do, if the water all went "oveboard"!

Next thing, - is how much is a lot of coolant? If you are talking a cup or two (pint) every time you drive a few miles, - I would make sure the waterpump isn't leaking. There is a "weep hole" underneath the "nose" of the waterpump housing, - it may drip water slowly (the worse leak -the faster) - you will most likely have to lay down under car and look up to waterpump with a flashlight to see water leaking (if leak is slow), - and it will most likely only leak as long as the cooling system is pressureized.

A bad pressure cap will allow a certian amount of water to escape, (and not pull it back in on cooling system to replentish radiator level). Note that most radiator caps opearte around 12psi or less, -- compression leakage is putting in 150 psi or more into water jacket, - so it is helpless to "regulate this".

A bad thermostat will not let the water flow, and will cause water to be pushed overboard (boiling water make air too, which will push water out pretty much the same as a compression leak, (just not as quick on overheating). This also could make heater "not heat" since if the thermostat isn't opening, the waterpump can't circulate the water around to get it through the heater in the first place! If you did the bubble test already, - you will notice at some point that the water started getting hot, - if it isn't already "boiling" (and blowing water out at this time), when the thermostat opens, the water suddenly becomes hot as it flows By this I mean (very)hot to touch, - since most thermostats open at around 180degrees (boiling is 212 degrees). When it does this, a "gush" of small bubbles may rise , - but it should not continue bubbling (if it is normal)! At this point, - the water flow should be pretty well continueous, - and free of large bubles, (microscopic ones not importanta)! If you remove the thermostat,- you can check it in a pan of boiling water, - it shoulld "open" at point water reaches boiling, and close fairly quickly after it is removed . Of course you want to hold it with something other than your fingers to keep from getting burned!-- In and out of water will open and close it to make sure it closes properly too! iThe "pellet" is the part that must be in the water, - this is the "bigger part:" on the little shaft that goes up through the middle of unit! Some thermostats are marked with "this side up" or "top" to tell you which side should be facing away form the engine(hot water), -- some don't , - so make sure you install it "right side up" when you put one in!

Now if you are sure that the headgsket is "leaking" compression, -you can take it to a garage, - and they have a unit that can be put on radiator neck and pumped up to see if the system leaks internally, - which will confirm (or deney) that you are leaking somewhere within the system. If he looks around, - he may see external leaks you may have missed also!

So that is what I would do,--- after checking for leaks again, checking thermostat, making sure system is really full of water to begin with, - and being sure that the presure cap is good! These are all the easy steps,- the next step would be to have mechanic check for headgasket leak- and of course he has experience to check other things that one might not think of also!

Answer 5

you can check your heater core under your dash. If the floor is wet on the passenger side its that. Or you have a blown head gasket. This would cause coolant to come out of the exhaust. This is typically shown by a sweet smelling white smoke coming from the exhaust.

Answer 6

the hollow you're conversing approximately is on your water pump it relatively is there to enable you recognize whilst water pump is going undesirable. it enables it to leak coolant so which you will see it and understand you have a situation without it the water pump could only fail and you may no longer understand untill engine have been given warm sufficient to reason injury. final analysis plugging hollow won't paintings you will could replace water pump.

Answer 7

1990 Toyota Camry Radiator

Answer 8

whats oil look like? if theres water on dipstick and inside add oil cap..its bad...blown head gasget..600 plus...other option take it to shop 4 pressure test...low cost and u will know 4 sure...gd luk

Answer 9

check your thermostat and pressure test like they said